Brett and Bernii

As we mentioned in last week’s post, we crossed the border from Thailand to Laos.

The process of crossing the border was fairly easy as we already had our e-visas. We caught a tuk tuk to the Chiang Khong Immigration Office where we met with the Shompoo Cruise staff member who provided us with some paperwork. We passed through Thai Immigration and boarded a bus which took us across the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge No. 4 and into Laos. We then passed through Laos immigration which cost 50THB and boarded a Shompoo Cruise van to take us to the boat.

The river boat took us along the Mekhong River from Huay Xai to Pak Beng. Along the way we stopped at a local village to learn about village life and Lao culture. Bernii quickly made friends with three little girls who didn’t leave her side the entire time we were there.

When we arrived in Pak Beng we stayed the night at the Sanctuary Pak Beng Lodge. The accommodation was booked by Shompoo Cruises as part of our package. All up it cost us US$620. The accommodation portion was US$140 (AU$224.60) including dinner and breakfast, making it the most expensive accommodation so far. We enjoyed a few beers at Happy Bar and watched the sunset before heading back to the accommodation for dinner and bed. Unfortunately the bed at the AU$17 hotel the previous night was much more comfortable.

We set off at 7:30AM the following morning and made two stops on the way to Luang Prabang. The first was at the Pak Ou Caves which contain thousands of small Buddha statues. The second stop was at the Ban Xang Hai village (also known as Whisky Village) where we learnt how they made the rice whisky and were able to sample some of the varieties.

Later in the afternoon we arrived at the beautiful city of Luang Prabang. We spent the first three nights at the Queen’s House Hotel (AU$94 per night) and another two nights at the Pakhongthong Villa (AU$87 per night). Most mornings started with breakfast at the riverside Luang Say Cafe and Restaurant and most evenings were spent enjoying some Beerlao and playing pool at the Outback Bar.

We climbed to the top of Phousi Hill to enjoy the views of the Mekhong River and Luang Prabang. We also went to the UXO Lao Visitors Center where we learnt about the dark history of the bombing of Laos and the continuing impact that the unexploded ordnance have on the people of Laos. We highly recommend visiting if you are in Luang Prabang.

After spending five nights in Luang Prabang it came time to leave. We caught the bullet train to the capital city Vientiane where we stayed the night at the Ibis Vientiane Nam Phu (AU$92 per night). We had originally booked first class train tickets through the online booking service 12go, however they failed to issue the tickets and only notified us at 6PM on the day before the trip. We fortunately ended up booking second class tickets on a later train (the earlier train had sold out). The train tickets cost us about AU$36 each and we booked them through our hotel reception. That meant we were able to get to Vientiane in time to catch our flight to Hanoi the following day, saving us several hundred dollars in flights. In future we will avoid booking travel using 12go unless the option provides instant confirmation.

We really enjoyed our time in Laos and will definitely be returning. For now we are enjoying our time in Hanoi before we head south through Vietnam.